Nearly a year ago I came across research from New Zealand showing children didn’t infect their teachers with Covid-19. And now, Scottish research shows they not only don’t pass Covid on to their parents, they protect them from it. The study … Read More
Pregnant women now being offered Covid vaccine – but why were they ever excluded?
There’s a lot of confusion about the Covid vaccine and whether it’s safe for pregnant and breastfeeding women and their babies. Mums-to-be have written to me, asking why they were not given it from the start of the rollout if it is … Read More
How playing the right music to patients on the operating table could cut down their pain
When I was studying for my medical finals there were all sorts of theories doing the rounds on how to retain all the facts we were attempting to remember. One was to read the stuff you wanted to recall just … Read More
New motor neurone disease research offers glimmer of hope for devastating illness
Motor neurone disease isn’t common but when it strikes it can be a tragedy and more than 1,500 people a year have to cope with that when they get the diagnosis. Motor neurone disease (MND) is a degenerative disease where … Read More
Teenagers are exercising to lose weight rather than get fit or just have fun
As if our teenagers don’t have enough to worry about at the moment, it seems more of them than ever are obsessed with their weight. In 2015, 42% of 14-year-old girls and boys said they were trying to lose weight, … Read More
Could owning a pet cat increase your risk of developing brain cancer?
No one likes their pet to be accused of spreading disease. I remember some time ago there was news that a parasite from dogs, Toxocara canis, could be passed on through contamination from dog faeces – and the campaign to … Read More
Cut down stress on hospital wards by turning down anxiety-inducing volume
Have you ever spent a night on a hospital ward? It is quite a soundscape. And a soundscape that could be very stressful for patients. Not just the background hum that pierces the nightly silence but the jarring sound of an alarm, … Read More
Exciting treatment that could sharpen minds and gives hope to people with Alzheimer’s
Medical research often creeps forward slowly. Advances emerge from painstaking investigation starting with basic lab studies, then in animals, first in small animals such as mice, moving on to larger animals before being tried in human beings. Now from this … Read More
Clinical trials are crucial to new Covid vaccines in battle against the disease
This is a blatant sales pitch for clinical trials and I make no apology for it. Every step we’ve taken in our fight against Covid has been pioneered and brought to fruition by research and science. Every tool used to … Read More
Vaccines alone won’t get out us out of lockdown cycle – we need strong border control
I hear people saying over and over again in interviews their greatest fear is that when restrictions are eased we’ll get another spike of infections and a further lockdown. So how do we dodge them? We’re pinning our hopes on … Read More